Established in 1991, the UCLA Terasaki Center has been a platform for research on Japan. Our distinguished faculty, students, postdoctoral fellows, visiting scholars, and the board of advisors have been contributing to the field of Japanese studies for over 20 years.

The Terasaki Center sponsors a vast array of events throughout the year. With its colloquium series, the Center brings academics from diverse fields to UCLA each year. Special workshops and annual conferences bring leading scholars to discuss topics relating to Japan.

Center programs were established with strong support from the local community to promote research and instruction in Japanese studies, with a recent focus on the profound transformations unfolding in contemporary Japanese society.

The Terasaki Center is actively expanding support for faculty and graduate students, building relationships with other universities as well as Japan and Japanese Studies related organizations, and enhancing its role in the community.

Dr. Aaron Moore

Aaron Moore, Assistant Professor of History at Arizona State University, joined the UCLA History Department in 2008 as the first Terasaki Postdoctoral Fellow. Moore earned his doctorate at Cornell University in Modern Japanese History and has also taught at Ohio University. He was on leave from Arizona State University to join the UCLA community for the '08-'09 academic year. As a fellow, Moore spoke in the Terasaki Center’s colloquium series on "Technologies of Asian Development: Japanese Engineers in China and Manchuria during the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945)" and taught an undergraduate course, "Technology and Power in Modern Japan."

Moore conducted research for his first book, Technological Visions of Modernity and Empire in Japan. The book, based on his dissertation "The Technological Imaginary of Imperial Japan, 1931-1945," focuses on technology not in the common understanding of the term, but what Moore calls "the idealistic values that have been associated with 'technology' and technological development."

TERASAKI CENTER FOR JAPANESE STUDIES

The Terasaki Center for Japanese Studies is committed to uniting scholars, students, and the community in efforts to understand Japan in global and historical contexts.